Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-11-26


based solely upon the fact that its
streets are paved with gold. To them
the gingle of money is the very voice
of happiness. They would stop the
loftiest and sweetest peans of the
heavenly choir to hear the clink of
the golden eagles. TO them the earth
and the fullness thereof and all the
universe of God are containable with
in the circumference of a dollar.
They measure politics, religion, eth
ics, honesty, virtue, friendship, love,
truth, honor, faith, hope and charity
by the standard of a dollar. The
only mantle of charity known to such
men is made of national bank notes.
The greed of wealth begets cruelty.
1t is in large part the basis of mans
inhumanity to man; the main spring
of the blacklist crimes of which man.
kind is capable under the inspiration
of the devil. 1t breaks up family cir
cles. 1t destroys friendships. 1t kills
the conscience and makes men, if
possible, too vile for the dungeons of
hell. 1t turns away in scorn from
the out-stretched and withered hand
of poverty. 1t often banishes from
the comfort and plenty of home the
aged father and mother, and sends
them tottering "over the hills to the
poor house." 1t coins the sweat of
the millions and makes them its
slaves. Its happiness feeds on the
miseries and misfOrtunes of human
ity. &"
But there is just God; a settle
ment is coming and for every mo-
ment of such accursed happiness it
shall pay an eternity of hell fire.
Behold the great money king with
the weight Of his seventy-fve mil
lions resting upon his weary brain and
groaning soul. There he sits in his
Office day after day watching the
fluctuations, the ebb and flow, of the
golden tides, the storms, the calms,
the wrecks and ruins of the great
ocean of business and commerce. He
plots and schemes and conspires and
combines; he bulls and bears, he
corners, he loads and unloads at will
and plays with the fortunes and hap.
piness of his fellow man as the cy.
clone plays with the feather or the
wolf with the lamb. He heeds not
the curses and groans of his ruined
victims. His eye is blind to the
spectacle of misery, his ear deaf tc
the cry of distress, his head steeled tt
the appeals of the poor, his soul deat
to the tender voice of Charity. Ir
the midst of destitution and woe hi
millions pile up like "Pelion on Ossa'
till his colossal fortune is the wondel
and envy of all the world. But he il
never satisfied with his gains. Hi
purse, like the jaws of death, is neve
full. He is more thirsty for gold
more eager for gains, than when h
earned his first dollar.
Thus runs his career day by day
But after awhile in the lapse of tn,
years there comes an unexpected ant
eventful day. Suddenly and withou
moments warning an unseen bov
is drawn, an unseen shaft is sped
Thepalor of death is upon his face
its shadows gather about his eyes
and he is dead. Of all the million
he has boarded, of all the gran,
palaces and mansions his wealth ha
built, of all the broad acres his none,
has bought, coffin, winding shee
and six by three of mother earth ar
all that is left to him. ~
is there anything Tess left to tn
poorest beggar in the land :? Wher
then is the happiness of wealth
There is none save in its employ
ment for the happiness of others
: there is none except in its appropris
tion for the relief of suffering and fC
: the amelioration of humanity.
l would rather dwell in cabi
2 among the mountains, with my viii
and children in home spun, and
s peace and contentment sit down
t my daily meal of bread and milk an
: bacon, than to luxuriate in a palaC
V built with money wrung from tn
toll and sweat and misfortunes of m
e fellow men!
= Again, there are those who thin
that true happiness will be found
the achievement of fame. The soldi,
grasps for it amid the terrors of IL
battlefield. The world esteems
Y glorious to murder scientifically ar
d on approved tactical principles.
:. hem your victims in some corner ar